Benue Investment Company sacks 44 workers

The Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC), on Tuesday announced the sack of 44 workers it claimed were redundant.

Its Managing Director, Mr Alex Adum, who announced this at his first accountability press briefing in Makurdi, said that their employment followed due processes, but “lacked business needs”.

According to him, the reduction in the workforce is part of an ongoing restructuring in the company.

“All the affected staff have been redundant; I inherited a total of 204 workers, among those sacked are three Executive Directors and four General Managers.

“In 2016, BIPC had 66 staff; between 2016 and 2019, an additional 150 staff were employed,” he said.

Adums said that the company’s monthly wage bill rose to N37 million due to the number of employees.

The managing director said that he was aware of the criticisms the sack would attract, but declared that he was “doing it in good faith, and in the interest of Benue”.

He said that the company’s shares and assets had hugely depreciated due to misapplication of managerial principles.

“Previous administrations refused to apply sound managerial principles; they made the company a social service extension centre.

“They watched while the company collapsed, and left a lot of liabilities for the government to battle with,” he fumed. (NAN)